Shinobi, Champions and Monsters
by Raxychaz
Summary: At the end of a day of training in the Forest of Death, Menma Uzumaki is given a sight which he cannot explain, a portal opening up and dumping a handful of people into the forest along with him, wondering how they got here will have to wait until later however as they seem just as confused as he is. MenmaX? Narutox? Alive!MinaKushi, Monster HunterxLeague of LegendsxNaruto.
1. Chapter 1

**League of Legends/Naruto/Monster Hunter**

**Putting the Characters coming to the Narutoverse here so you can decide whether or not you want to read now.**

**Vi**

**Caitlyn**

**Ahri**

**Riven**

**Pantheon (Dragonslayer)**

**More later but these lot are the first bunch, so if you have some horrible grudge against them, back away slowly.**

**Konoha**

In one of the vacant training fields sat a single person, Said person was a male, he had spikey black hair, falling to his mid back in a ponytail, he wore a dark navy blue coat with grey fur along the sleeves and collar, it was open revealing his muscular physique under a skin-tight black turtleneck. He wore black pants that were just baggy enough to not really display his legs, but close enough that they didn't cause unneeded wind resistance. He wore open toed sandals; they were black in colour, not much to say only that they went up to his shins.

Clutched in his right hand, rather lazily one might add, was an odd weapon, it was an axe, it's vicious head dripping with small traces of red fluid, the body of her comrade the reason for this, yet as he pulled back on a lever the axe head moved down and a second blade emerged, making it look like a greatsword. It was something he spent a great deal of time creating, the Switch-Axe was his precious creation.

Several weeks had been spent pouring over an old schematic he'd found, sitting in one of the few unexplored caves deep within the Forest of Death, the cave itself looked like it was once used as a forge, the old equipment, rusted and beaten as it was, was testament to such.

He'd made the cave his own personal little base, for several years now, since the age of 10 he'd been going to and fro, people would always question where he disappeared for hours on end he always just said it was business, or that he was busy, no-one was ever satisfied with that answer but oh well.

The hardest past to replicate from the original design was the Phial, the Phial-pronounced vial-was an augmentation that could add an extra effect to the strike of the Switch-Axe, there was one that could increase the raw damage the Sword Mode put out by vibrating the blade to high levels making it cut more efficiently, this caused a red glow to form around the blade when in use, there was one that secreted poison, another that used paralytic resin, another that caused powerful, but controlled explosions upon impact, not harming the user-_somehow_-but causing devastating damage to the target.

Menma was extremely confused how these things worked, it was a mix between archaic ingenuity and what appeared to be something akin to magic, whether it was or wasn't Menma had no idea, he knew how to create the phial's it was a complicated process, but he was happy he was the only one who _could_ do it, this way no-one else could rip off his idea.

"Alright Menma you've made the damn thing, now to practice…I wonder if Zanbato kata's would work for Sword-Mode? Axe-Mode is more for its reach and sheer force rather than elegance." Muttered the boy, removing his long coat and throwing it to the side, summoning up a trio of clones the Uzumaki hefted up the blades, the clones wore their masks, for some reason they always did.

Lifting the gunmetal grey weapon he cocked a certain switch and it switched from Axe to Sword-Mode, the top half of the blade latched onto the axe blade, two clamps-_one on each side_-folded out and held the blades in place, for extra stability.

The blade hummed lowly as a faint red glow Menma's purple eyes glanced around the field, before he nodded, each clone bore a different weapon, one with Kunai, one with a katana and the last with a bo-staff, Menma's arms tensed, his jaw clenched and he spread his legs, "Go!" He ordered, the kunai wielder came in hard and fast, Menma was forced to duck and weave between each strike, feeling the small cuts begin to open up around his torso, growling he forced the offensive swinging wide he made the clone double back, takings its place was the bo-staff wielder smashing his staff against the sword, Menma grinned darkly as his Switch' began to vibrate, shaking in his very arms, with a flourish he forced the bo-staff into stumbling only for him to bury the weapon in the clones chest the vibrating became so intense before exploding the clone shot across the field before crumpling into dirt.

The clams released and the weapon returned to its Axe-Mode, that was one of the more powerful abilities of Sword-Mode, Menma could expel all the remaining power of the phial into one controlled burst, there was a small button that was just near the rear of the handle, it took a decent push for it to actually activate, so one couldn't accidentally use it up.

The phial would recharge on its own in a short time, but he would have to wait before using Sword-Mode again anytime within the next minute or so.

The katana wielder shot forward next Menma sidestepped the strike only to be forced into a small leap to avoid the redirected strike from the sword wielder, with another wide swing Menma's axe hit the katana, shattering it, the ripple effect sent the shot into the clones arms, making it wince just long enough for the axe head to meet neck, the clones head was separated from its neck as both pieces fell into dirt, Menma turned to the final clone, a kunai flying across the field and hitting him in the shoulder, growling lowly he pulled it out with blood began trickling down his torso from the wound.

The clone stuck out an arm, in its hand formed a black orb, white rings blurring into existence, Menma's eyes widened in shock, staking the Switch-Axe into the ground by its head he dismissed the crazy clone, its jutsu fizzling out as it fell into rubble, along with its kunai.

Sighing Menma removed his shirt, sighing sharply as it aggravated his wound, pulling a scroll from his hip pouch he unsealed yet another small pouch, opening it up he grabbed some disinfectant and a gauze patch, dripping the disinfectant onto the wound made him hiss, the wound was then sealed with the patch, "Well, I leant a valuable lesson today. Practice the fucking weapon before using it." He grumbled, a dark patch of clouds began gathering over the field, Menma's looked up a risen brow, though he ignored it, pumping chakra through his torso to speed up the healing of his wounds, Uzumaki Vitality had its perks. The reason he put on the first aid? To make sure the kunai wound healed properly, he didn't have time to deal with an infection; it _was_ made of the dirt around him which could have the blood of past trainees in its make-up, who knows? Not him, so he was airing on the side of caution.

The sound of thunder clapping drew his attention towards the opposite end of the field, his eyes widened when he saw a purple tint to the air, it began swirling before it began spinning so fast it was just a blur, five more claps rung out before a large burst of light emanated from the swirl, the shockwave it emanated blew through the tree's, disturbing birds as they began to squawk angrily into the air, Menma's hair was blown back and his eyes were forced closed by the dust kicked up.

"Ow…" Came a voice, Menma quickly rubbed his eyes free of dirt before standing up, a helpful wind blew through kicking away all the dust, Menma's eyes widened at the dog-pile of people that spontaneously appeared.

One stood, a man he guess, his form was heavily armoured, the first thing he did was pick up his spear and shield, his armoured looked much like a dragon now that Menma looked at it, the shield had three long claw-like additions across the face, spilling off at each side they ran to, his helmet had horns that curled slightly, having a telescopic pattern, ending in a sharp point. Dark red eyes peered out through the gaps in the helmet; the man inspected the area around him, his long dark red cape fluttering slightly as his body moved.

"This is not the rift." Stated the man, his voice strong and gruff. Holding his spear tightly the dark maroon armoured man finally landed his gaze upon the 15 year old. "You, boy where are we?" Demanded the man, the black haired teen rose an amused brow standing up, grabbing the axe staked into the ground, it began folding in on itself he placed it into a holster on his thigh, before grabbing his coat from the ground.

"Seriously? You come out of what I can only imagine is some kind of portal, and you ask where you are? Not, 'Oh good were all in one piece instead of multiple or kami forbid one great gelatinous mass'." Menma sighed as the man merely held his spear forward, lifting his arms up he waved him off.

"Alright, you're in Konoha. Currently a clearing within Training Ground 44, or to the pansies, The Forest of Death." Said the teen, an air of unusual calm around him like he was held at weapon point every other day, this thought made the spear-wielder confused, he really thought he was more intimidating.

"Is it some kind of new zone?" Asked a female voice, Menma looked at the slowly rising dog-pile and ran his gaze across them.

The one that had just spoken was a woman with short pink hair, three longer strands fell down her right shoulder, from the looks of it the side of her head, the left side, had been shaved, not recently however but at some point within the past few months, due to the noticeable shortness of it compared to the rest of her hair, she stood at roughly 6' give or take an inch with crystal blue eyes with a VI tattooed just under her left eye and on the majority of her cheek, naturally pink lips and a tomboyish air about her, she wore some kind of body armour along with roughly half a pink frilly skirt stuck out of said armour along with a short jacket that went just above her ribs, the collar popped-_obviously_-the most noticeable thing about her, besides her _really_ good looks was the massive gauntlets she wore, they looked to be comprised of several mechanisms, steam gauges on the back of the hand, she adjusted the goggles atop her head, doing so required shaking her hair out.

"_I think I'm in love._" Stated Menma, serious yet not, tone wise he was serious, in a literal sense, he was not. Though the woman was extremely beautiful, love at first sight was not something that actually existed. "_And if anyone says otherwise I'll just point out how incredibly fucking shallow such a concept is._"

Distractions were great.

Next up was a woman who was about a head shorter than the previous, she had longer hair down to her lower back it was straight and held this odd purple tint in the sunlight, though still very dark. Her eyes were a powerful teal that held a piercing quality; She had a very large hat on it were purple and yellow stripes, a dress that had white frills on the interior, for some reason, knee high brown leather boots with three belt-like straps on each one. She wore fingerless brown leather gloves, in her hands was some…Thing. It was long and cylindrical, it seemed to be telescopic, if the narrowing pattern was anything to go by, along with the magnifying glasses attached to the top of the…He wanted to say barrel for some reason.

The next was a woman whom looked to be a vagabond, her armour was here and there, a shoulderguard, a single glove whilst the other hand was wrapped in bandages from knuckle to elbow, a single shin guard over her pale brown boots. A white skirt around her waist that was slightly lopsided, over that was a brown tattered cloak, the remains of a hood around her neck whilst the tail sat around her waist, a brown leather belt holding it all together. Her hair was stark white flared up at the back whilst the rest lay against her head, a fringe almost covering her right eye, bright ruby red orbs glanced around curiously, though there was the look, a survivor, strong will and secrets hidden, she stood at about 5' 10".

In her hand was what looked like the remnants on a blade, green runes of some kind etched on the remaining part the edge of the blade was a strong silver colour, it contrasted well with blackened middle.

Finally, and his eyes went wide at this point, a fox-woman with nine long silvery flowing tails. She had two vulpine ears atop her head, the same black colour as her hair that fell to her mid back, she had amber eyes that were warm and inviting, though that made him more cautious, with three whisker marks on her cheeks, much like himself though somehow more…feminine. She wore a stylized red kimono showing a generous amount of cleavage with golden embroidery along the sleeves, a white skirt showing smooth thighs and long legs, she wore ballet flats, black, with white shin-high socks.

Floating around her was a pale blue orb, he could sense some kind of power coming off it.

"Well aren't you a colourful bunch." Said the Uzumaki, trying to alleviate the dread that begun to rise in his throat at the sight of the nine-tailed woman, he knew his younger siblings held the foxes halves, could there be a second one perhaps?

"Speak for yourself Mr. Coat and Abs." Said the fox woman a sultry smirk pulling at her lips.

"Forest of Death…None of the Summoners spoke of a place such as this. Explain." Ordered the man.

Menma sighed and rubbed the ridge of his nose, "Pantheon. You're terrible at getting information." Sniped the woman with the hat, she walked over to him, the pink haired woman not far behind, and offered her hand, "Caitlyn, Piltover Sheriff. This is my partner Vi. I'm afraid we don't really understand how it is we got here. Do you know about the Institute of War, the League of Legends perhaps?" Asked the woman, her accent was quite new to him.

Menma couldn't help but notice the height difference between them as he shook her hand, though he felt this woman knew how to handle herself, "Can't say I have." He admitted, "Like is said, you're in Konoha, the heart of Fire Country, the Elemental Nations. If that helps." He shrugged whilst the woman, Caitlyn frowned, her eyes narrowing in concentration.

"So what's your name?" Asked Vi, rising a pink eyebrow.

"Ah, sorry. Menma Uzumaki, a pleasure." He greeted the woman nodded, before looking him up and down, nodding, "How old are ya?" She asked curiously.

"Ah, 15. Turning 16 in a few weeks." He informed, Vi's eyes widened at that.

"You're 15 and have muscles like the 'Artisan of War' over there, jeeze. What do you eat?" She asked a little stunned, now it was his turn to raise a brow.

"Well I won't say a lot of people look like I do, but then again training from the age of 10 does that to you, my first teacher was kind of an exercise nut, It kinda rubbed off on me." He admitted a little sheepishly, thinking of all the time he'd spent training with Gai-sensei and Lee, thank kami their other habits didn't spread to him.

Ugh, bowl cuts.

"10?" Asked the white haired woman, coming over to join the conversation, the fox-woman and the 'Artisan' followed. "Why would you be training for combat since the age of 10?"

"Ah, well most kids are, enter the Academy at 8, start training at 10 when puberty starts, then leave the Academy at 14 and your off into the world of Shinobi, most of us tend to die young so we tend to take training pretty seriously if we want to survive in the world." He informed, though he was confused at their expressions. "What..?"

"Child Soldiers! What do you live in Neo-Noxus!?" Shouted the white haired woman, throwing her hands up, Menma was confused but the man, Pantheon merely nodded his head.

"We of the Rakkor train from such an age to attain the perfect bodies for waging War. I approve of your lifestyle." Was all the man said.

"Well that's how things are, bloody hell calm down it isn't that big of a deal." Said Menma, and it wasn't it'd been like that since the days of the Clan Wars, Shinobi didn't just stop being produced. That and after a certain age it became harder to use Chakra unless you'd been using before that point, typically if someone hasn't unlocked their chakra at the age of 18-19 they couldn't for the rest of their lives.

"Are you given an option?" Asked the woman, her voice steely as she glared, not at him, but like she was glaring through him.

"Well yeah, were a militaristic society, not a fucking war-machine." Replied Menma, her glare seemed to ease up a bit, "Well everyone else is, it was kind of expected of me to do so. My father's the head of the village and all." Menma shrugged carelessly once more, before he clapped his hands and rubbed them together.

"Now, you guys came through some big purple portal of some kind and **bam** here you are in my training ground, so how about we go to my cabin, it's not too far from here, and we can discuss in detail what exactly it is that you're doing here, or as the case may be, _how_ you got here. If nothing else I'll answer all the questions you have, but I gotta warn you…" He said pointing at Ahri she blinked innocently a smile on her face as she pointed to herself, "The people in the village…Will react badly to you, actually anyone would, the only reason I'm not freaking out right now is because I saw you come through the portal, so there's a minimal as fuck chance that you're connected to it."

"It?" Asked Caitlyn.

"The Kyuubi No Yoko, a Bijuu-_Tailed Beast_-that attacked the village a few years ago, people are still healing after the incident, my little brother and sister hold each half of the beast within themselves, if it weren't for the fact they were the Hokage's kid, I shudder to think what'd happen…Anyway foxes of any kind have been hunted to near extinction around here, so if or when we go into town you'll need to stick by me so I can put an illusion over you, to hide the tails and the ears." After his long explaination Menma took a small breath.

"Look you're all probably really confused, just follow me and we'll have our little Q 'n A." He said before turning and gesturing they follow.

The group did so, though at a distance.

"Child soldiers…" Said Riven, bitterly her eyes trying to burn holes into the ground.

"He did say they were given a choice." Said Vi, trying to calm her friend and fellow Champion, they may not have been besties but Vi knew Riven was a good person, she had a bit of a murky past but then again so did the Enforcer.

"He wasn't." Countered Riven.

"His father more than likely want's him strong, as did my own." Offered Pantheon, "If we are in fact not in Runeterra it is not so farfetched to assume that the culture will be different from what you may be used to."

"That was oddly wise, I didn't think you had much more than battle tactics in that head of yours." Quipped Ahri, smiling brightly as the red eyes of the Artisan honed in on her, before Ahri suddenly frowned and looked ahead, her eyes on his back, "Though if he does have his father, siblings and I'm assuming mother, why does he live out here in a forest, and not with them?" She pondered aloud.

"I admit I'm quite curious about that as well." Mumbled Caitlyn, taking off her hat and running her fingers through her hair, "All of this is enough to make my head spin."

_Oh just wait until later, Cait. Just wait._

**End**

**Hope you guys like it, I kinda just didn't stop writing. So yes, this is more of a jump-right-in story, we learn of Menma's past as the Champions do. **

**As to why he's being so accommodating, he did just see something akin to Space Time Ninjutsu appear spontaneously before his eyes, all of these people are clearly confused and disorientated, along with their different sense of dress and armour, he can hypothesize they aren't exactly enemy nin.**

**That and he's quite good at picking up ill intent, as any shinobi should be.**

_**Raxychaz!**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Shinobi, Champions and Monsters**

**Yinko: To be honest it's just an excuse to get more coverage for my writing. I'll totally admit this.**

**Start**

The group of 5 Champions stood before a large house sitting in the middle of the forest it was two story's tall with a veranda circling around both levels, on the front door was a series of symbols, "I wonder what those are…" Muttered Caitlyn, her lips pulling at little in thought her eyes narrowing to see if she recognised any of them.

"Different place." Reminded Pantheon, as though knowing what she was thinking, and immediately shooting down the idea of their being anything recognisable, Caitlyn sighed but ceased he was right in a way, there'd be little point to trying to recognise anything that they'd have no chance of.

They watched as the black haired teen approached the door, pulling off his glove he bit into his hand, blood began pooling into his palm smearing it over the door the runes all began to light up before a glow passed over the door frame before a click was heard, water appeared from nowhere and cleaned the blood off before bursting into steam and being pushed away, Menma's hand was clear of blood and no sign of wound, "Come on in." He said, smiling slightly at their expressions, "You'll catch flies." He chortled lightly; Pantheon was the first in the door, lowering his spear and shield to pass through the door, nodding in thanks to the younger male.

Removing his helmet Pantheon looked around, holding the dragon-shaped helm under his arm; short brown hair was atop his head, very short, his skin was well tanned with a lining of scruff along his jawline, a few small scars lining his face, almost unnoticeable in nature. His glowing eyes were not something that simply came due to his helmet; nope those scary as shit things are real because Mantheon doesn't fuck around.

"Take a seat wherever you're comfortable, feel free to unwind, we're pretty well hidden out here." Said Menma, peeling off his coat and throwing it over the rack, walking into his kitchen he began raiding the fridge.

The others began to fall in, there were two couches in the living room, one facing the other in between was two, in between the two was a small table. "Damn…" Said Vi, looking around a low whistling passing through her lips, "…Pretty nice pad for a kid living on his own." Said the Enforcer sitting on the couch, going through the process of removing her gloves, Cait took a spot next to her friend whilst Riven sat on the other side of them.

"Anyone need anything?" Came the voice from the kitchen.

"Something, strong." Said Riven, rubbing her head as she was still trying to process all that had happened in their short time here.

"I know the feeling." Said the amused voice of the black haired male, a chuckle coming from the kitchen.

**Konoha**

A young boy, roughly 10 years of age with golden blonde hair, shining blue eyes and a triplet of brown whisker marks on each cheek sat atop the head of the 4th Hokage, looking over the village. Next to him was a young girl, of the same age, long crimson red hair, dark purple eyes she had similar markings to her brother, as they were in fact siblings.

"Hey…Nee-chan. Do you know where Nii-san is?" Asked the boy to the girl, curiously.

"Haven't seen him since this morning, he's always done this." The girl pouted a little, crossing her arms as she did so.

"I wonder where he goes all the time?" Pondered the little boy.

The girl perked up, "Let's follow him next time!" She stood up and threw her arms into the air to draw more attention to her idea.

"We tried that before." Reminded the boy, paling at the memory.

"We'll just keep doing it until we succeed! Think of it like training if we can get past Onii-sama's senses then we'll be great Shinobi!" Said the little girl, positively ecstatic with the idea.

The boy was not so enthused.

**TG 44 Menma's House**

"Holy shit how didn't you guys snap from boredom!?" Asked the Uzumaki, looking at the Champions as he heard of their collective profession, "I mean it'd be awesome fighting and never meeting a true death but the monotony would weigh after a while."

"Some Champions can't get enough of it, like Renekton according to his brother Nasus he was driven to an insane killing machine, fighting against Renekton is…daunting." Informed Riven, shaking her head as she remembered the not-so-fun times Renekton was open for public use.

The top-lane was a pain during those weeks.

"Or when Jinx was put into the Lea-OH SHIT JINX!" Shouted Vi, her hands now free of her Hextech Gauntlets, stood up her hands knotting into her hair as she began frantically pacing back and forth, "What the hell is Jinx gonna do now that we're not there to stop her? Oh fuck-ohfuckofuckofuck!" Vi's voice slowly got higher in pitch.

"So that's a thing that's happening right now." Said Menma, observing the beautiful woman have some kind of mental snap, "Anyone got an answer or should I just be confused?" He asked the group.

Caitlyn sighed, rubbing her forehead. "There's this particularly insane criminal that's been giving us quite a lot of trouble in the past few years. She's been terrorizing Piltover almost non-stop, explosions, vandalism of varying degrees, disturbing the peace, on the darker days sexual assault in very…Disturbing ways."

"She killed anyone?" Asked the boy, Cait looked up and was impressed with his poker-face.

"Her explosive habits have taken a few lives, yes."

"Then just take off her head and be done with it, quick and clean. No use trying to put a crazy person in chains, they'll bust out and keep going. Insanity is strong like that." He closed his eyes, laying his head back against the couch and nodding, "Put a mad dog down, better for everyone."

"They can't." Informed Riven, "Since Jinx joined the League she's gained diplomatic immunity, Champions are above the law due to their status. So if either Vi or Caitlyn were to kill her, they'd be in serious trouble, possibly fatal for themselves."

"You're fuckin' kidding right?" Asked the teen, his face pulled into a snarl, at the shake of the white haired woman's head he spat out. "Fucking politics."

"Yeah it can be a bit like that." Said Caitlyn.

**Konoha: Night**

"Onii-sama! Why are you always running off!" Came the imperious shout from the 10 year old redhead, the amethyst eyes of her brother regarded her boredly before he took his seat at the table, ignoring her.

"Menma-kun, be nice to you sister, poor Mito-chan." Scolded a red haired woman, shaking her head. She had the same purple eyes as her daughter and eldest son, once a powerful Jounin, and host of the Kyuubi No Yoko, now reduced to a housewife.

The mere idea of such a massive change blew the eldest son's mind.

"I am." Said Menma, a small hand tugging at his pants, looking down he saw a little strawberry blonde with crystalline blue eyes, she wore a kitten onesie and was making grabbing motions for him to pick her up, doing so she immediately latched onto his neck and began rambling on in baby-talk about her day. "See, I'm the nicest to Natsuki-chan, aren't I Imoto." He cooed gently as she giggled and blew a raspberry at him.

"I'm your sister too!"

"You're annoying." Was the immediate reply from the icy eyed Uzumaki, Mito sat in a corner with a dark cloud over her head.

"You're so nice." Said Naruto, flatly. Starring up at his older brother who merely shrugged carelessly and rubbed Natsuki's cheeks, the little toddler giggling uncontrollably as he did so, Menma was under the impression that she had gained some form of sensitivity in her cheeks, unlike the rest of them.

It at the very least made her even cuter when she was in her pyjama's, like now.

'_I hope they just listened to me._' Thought the eldest Uzumaki child. He was of course referring to the champions, he'd left a clone to watch over the house he'd have it summon him to switch places with after he 'went to bed'. See Menma was a very independent person, he didn't want to be coddled, he didn't want to rely on people for anything, he was happiest when left to his own devices.

'_Tomorrow's going to be very interesting either way._' Thought the eldest Uzumaki, bouncing the baby of the family on his knee as she giggled and squealed happily.

**Next Day, Forest of Death.**

As Menma approached his cabin he sighed and took another breath of the air, the forests were so much more pleasing than the smell of humans, especially the villagers, most of them only bathed once every few days.

Pigs.

They were all pigs, no sense of cleanliness. There were several large streams, rivers and ponds for people to use, they also had bath houses, yet they were all so neglectful of such a simple thing.

Pigs.

The irritation upon the Uzumaki's face must have been quite visible because an amused voice tickled his ears, "Why so angry tall dark and handsome?" Asked the voice, looking up he caught sight of the fox woman, Ahri sitting in a sun shaft enjoying the warmth of the giant flaming orb in the sky.

"Humans, I don't like humans, Ahri-san." He paused and inspected her form, her tails drifting happily as the sun's rays danced across her fur, giving it a slightly sparkling effect, "Enjoying yourself?" Asked Menma, hands on his hips and a small smile pulling at his lips.

"Greatly, when I was younger I always enjoyed sunning myself. Care to join me?" She seemed a little excited at that fact, the orb of blue energy glowed a little brighter as her smile widened. Menma glanced from Ahri to the door of his cabin before shrugging, slipping off his jacket and walking towards the woman he used said jacket as a pillow and lay down, enjoying the encompassing warmth of the sun's rays.

"Has anyone ever told you, you smell really good?" Asked Ahri, her voice sounded like genuine confusion, Menma's neck tickled as she nuzzled and sniffed at it, little jolts jumped through his body as she continued to rub her nose against his neck, muffled laughter began to emerge from him as she tried to get more and more of his scent.

Pantheon came from the house, wearing an apron that said 'Artisan of Breakfast' a brow risen at the sight of the fox-woman and the hospitable teen on the ground, the former tickling the latter as she straddled him, "Sometimes I question women. Then I remember two things, they are unfathomable and that I should get back to baking." The man spun on his heel and went back into the house, leaving the giggling teen and the fox-woman to their devices.

Vi and Caitlyn came down stairs, the former yawning and the latter following the heavenly scent, walking into the kitchen they were gifted with the sight of Pantheon, the Artisan of War…baking. Now the pair had seen this many times, as Pantheon was always quite proud of his culinary skills and would typically cook and share around the treats he'd made, Leona especially enjoyed them. Apparently the two were friends since they were younger, neither Cait nor Vi had really looked too far into the relationship.

"Where's that laughter coming from?" Asked the pink haired enforcer, ruffling her hair in attempts to unknot it a little, Pantheon merely pointed out the window. Vi peered out and huffed in annoyance, "Great. She's got her claws into him already. Sometimes I swear…" Grumbled the pink haired woman.

"Jealous, Vi?" Asked Cait, an amused brow risen.

"Jealous, no not really. Annoyed that apparently the first interesting guy I've met in a long time is susceptible to her 'charms' within a 24 hour window. Quite a lot yes." Corrected Vi as she sat down at the table, chin in her palm.

"It could also be that he's being tickled. I doubt lust and laughter are in the same category." Commented the only other male in the area, Vi scoffed.

"Tickling him? Sure." Dismissed the enforcer.

"Why is Ahri tickling Menma?" Asked Riven as she came from down stairs, apparently only catching the end of the conversation, Cait chuckled at Vi's eye roll whilst Pantheon merely pointed out the window once more.

Riven walked over and took a look, seeing the fox woman rubbing her nose against his neck and the black haired teen struggling to contain an uproar of laughter. "I think she's sniffing him…" Commented the white haired woman, a little confused at the words that just came out of her mouth.

"That's what I assumed, one must remember she's a fox turned human and no doubt still has many of her old habits, such as sniffing something that may smell nice to her. Evidently our host is one such person."

"PLEASE ENOUGH HAHAHA!"

Cait looked at Vi with a smug smirk on her lips, the pinkette merely growled and marched outside, "She's so cute when she has a crush." Said Cait breezily, chuckling.

"Why would Vi have a crush on Menma? We've only just met him." Asked Riven, confusedly.

"Vi's very particular about the people she's attracted too, they need to have a certain something that seemingly only Vi can see. Thus far our friend has displayed that he's intelligent, independent and strong, add to the fact that he's at least interested in tinkering with weaponry and he's shot straight into her good graces. That axe of his is quite the marvel." Commented Cait, taking a sip from her coffee that the cooking male had given her enjoying the warmth and kick it had to it.

"Still…"

"She's just weary that this chance might be lost to her due to Ahri's…reputation. Have you ever seen someone hitting on Vi besides the meatheads of the league?"

"Olaf, a drunk Garen, Rengar, Vladimir at one point, Ezreal…All of which ended poorly for said person. Due to her rather…painful way of rejecting them a lot of the league had come to the conclusion she was a lesbian. Vi did not really appreciate these rumours." Informed Cait, Riven nodded, knowing full well about said rumours, many believed that Caitlyn and Vi had something going on, due to the fact neither of them had a partner of the romantic variety.

Caitlyn was just married to her job and Vi had her tastes.

"To see a potential lover and have it snatched away from you before you could even see what it could have been plays upon the mind." Came the wistful voice of Pantheon.

"Care to share, Panth?" Asked Cait, resting her chin on her palm and smirking at the man, who merely shook his head.

Interrupting like a turtle that was shot in the chest with a rifle, Vi came back through the door with Ahri slung over her shoulder and a much more composed Menma, coat over his shoulders, "Thank you." Was all he said before making his way to the couch, feeling the strong warmth of his coat upon his back and sighing into his seat.

"But he smells so good~!" Whined Ahri, Riven sighed and shook her head. Vi set Ahri down and levelled her a stern glare.

"Ahri you can't just go around sniffing at people, good smelling or not it's just impolite."

"But he liked it, he was laughing!" Defended the Fox-woman, Menma began to sink into the couch a little more, something that didn't go unnoticed.

"Just because he was laughing doesn't make it better." Scolded Riven, gently. Ahri was still quite new to all this, and getting overly mad at her would accomplish nothing.

The pout and puppy dog look she sent them seemed to be well mastered though.

"My struggle. It's so real…" Said the Uzumaki, mumbling it merely so he could know he said it aloud.

**End of chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

"These books are so old..." Murmured Menma, sitting in the loungeroom of his home away from home, nestled within the forest and hidden from the prying eyes of the public by natural cover and positioning. He'd sufficiently recovered from Ahri's little torment and was pawing over a few old books from the smithy, he'd looked at them before yes, dozens of times yes. But not once has he tired of looking at the various Monsters within this aged tomes pages, he smiled as he looked upon the stylized picture of the 'Barioth' personal favourite that one.

Mostly because he liked colder environments, and the schematics for the armour of the beast held a rather daunting mystique to it.

Sadly he doubted he'd ever have the pleasure of seeing, or hunting, one of these creatures. Unless something happened on a cataclysmic level, which saddened him, for all the talent he'd picked up at The Forge, he'd never be able to work with the materials only a monster could provide.

"Watch'cha readin'?" Asked the voice of the pink haired Enforcer, "Looks old." She commented further, leaning over his shoulder, Menma didn't bother to move from her, as the woman was exceptionally captivating and he didn't mind the attention.

"One of the many old books I found in The Forge, when I was younger. It details old creatures that used to inhabit the planet, sadly though it seems something drove them into hiding as I've never heard a whisper of their existence outside these books." Informed Menma, Vi removed her head from his shoulder instead just joining him on the couch he idly noticed how close she decided to sit, "Here, this one is about the smaller ones, have a gander." He offered, moving a plain white book in front of her, he narrowed his gaze, a few pages after the Bariot was a specific monster that made him wary.

"Green...Nargacuga? Am I saying that right?" Asked Vi struggling to pronounce the beasts name.

"Yes, the Nargacuga. Temperate areas, thick forests and plenty of prey. That's really all that is here sadly. It does make me curious though..." Menma stood up and paced back and forth, Vi idly flipping through the pages of the Beginners Guide to Monster Hunting'.

"So...Tell me about yourself." Said Menma, idly sipping from a bottle of water.

"Whaddaya wanna know?" Asked the pink bruiser.

"What do you do in your off time?" He replied.

Vi paused for a moment, thinking on her answer, "Fiddle with my gloves, going to the gym, gotta keep this hot bod rockin'." She jested with a smirk, Menma snorted at her wiping some water from his lip as he almost spit it up. "Oh come on."

"Sorry, I just didn't expect you to crack a joke. Had to be when I was drinking didn't it, dick." He barbed lightly, nudging her with his shoulder. Vi shoved him back and snorted in return.

"Whatever, what about you?" She asked idly.

"Researching mostly, outside the training my teacher left for me and smithing research I don't get much free time, but looking through books is a good way to unwind so I don't mind it so much." Vi made an exaggerated snoring noise.

"Oh sorry I just couldn't hear you over how boring that sounds." She sniped, Menma shot her a look. "What?"

"You play with your gloves and go to the gym, and my hobby is the boring one."

"Hey you do you man, but it just means I can walk all over you."

"I've been trained to kill people since I was ten and trained by a crazy man since I was 12, you wanna fucking go chicky-babe?" Vi's response was to throw her book down and tackle him off the couch, Menma laughed uproariously and rolled back to kick her off, she landed on her feet and proceeded to put him into a headlock.

"Say uncle motherfucker!" Roared the pinkette, Menma just grinned at her, barely managing to laugh through the strangling.

"I can see why you're so proud of it, you _do _have a 'hot bod'. Please don't cook me officer." He teased, Vi actually darkened slightly before deciding it was better to get even than angry, in this one situation. Mostly because she didn't have her gloves on at the moment.

This could have turned out a great deal more dangerous for our black haired protagonist.

"Sweetie we'll be making fire, when I bring you in." She whispered into his ear hotly, Menma looked at her with a slightly narrowed gaze.

"I'm like 90% sure you're fucking with me but that 10% is really hopeful." He admitted, Vi barked out a laugh, releasing him and messing up his hair.

"Wait a few years kid, then give it another try." She said with a smug smile. Content that she in fact _did _have feminine charms at her desposal, those pussies at the league just couldn't handle her was all.

"Well that's one way to be shot down I suppose." Said the Uzumaki with a breathy sigh, picking his book back up and perusing it once more, Vi would lie if she wasn't a little disheartened by the almost immediate switch off he had to her teasing. He appeared bored now, whereas a few seconds ago he was much more...Human for lack of a better word.

That had been something she'd observed during their stay thus far, their host was quite aloof, and anytime the conversation came back to his homeland or the current system in place he seemed either apathetic to it, or accepting of it. Like the idea of at least a delicate peace, was foreign to him.

She may have no memory of her childhood or even her 'real' name but even she had more life than this guy. Which wasn't really saying much when comparing the two, probably better to say Caitlyn had more life, and she was married to her gun and her job. Menma just seemed like he was cruising through the days.

A loud crash sounded outside all of sudden, drawing Vi from her thoughts and the shinobi from his reading, Menma rushed outside, throwing the door open in time to see a large bear carcass tossed into the clearing around his home, but there was no suspect to be seen.

Pantheon and Caitlyn were upstairs, changing. Ahri was wandering about with Riven to get a lay of the area and Vi was with him so it couldn't have been any of his guests, that left a bigger predator as the suspect.

Menma eyes widened as depressions in the ground began to appear, barely noticeable unless you were trained to look for the little details, patches of grass flattened. That's when a single shaft of light pierced the canopy at precisely the right moment, thank you clouds for getting the fuck out of the way. A shimmering of light that ran across the head of some...Creature.

Menma was dead still, Vi looking at him with slight confusion, he just made the slightest motion to remain still, the figure dug into the bear carcass, blood smearing a beak-like mouth, Menma's hand snapped to his hip, opening his holster as he rushed forward, chakra flushing into his legs to boost his speed, the figure noticed him immediately and began to flee, blood still dripping from its maw.

"I can see you, you slippery fucker! I knew I was being watched!" Bellowed the aspiring hunter, his Switch-Axe unfolding directly into sword-mode as his eyes clouded over with a haze of blue chakra, this was a little trick he'd developed when he was younger, an answer to the other clans more useful Kekkei Genkai, whilst the 'Perfect Body' was well and good it didn't exactly help him do much more than be in top condition until he died.

So he made a little technique that could track heat-signatures, it was still a little wonky but for the moment it lit this fucker up like a super-nova, that dark forests of 44 were made immensely easier to navigate with it, but he honestly wasn't expecting such a cosmic coincidence to occur, this was a Nargacuga to be sure. But it wasn't Green, or black. It was a Lucent Nargacuga.

Possibly the most fucking dangerous thing to go solo against.

Aside from Elder Dragons, but they were a whole other kettle of fish.

Menma suddenly felt the ground give out under him, sliding down a steep slope and slamming his head against something hard, "_Good start._" Tunnel vision. Don't get it.

**A Chunk of Time Later**

Menma awoke to a wet feeling against his cheek, blearily his eyes opened to see himself in complete darkness, wonderful, without moving any part of his body he activated his little heat-sight-thing, and found the whole cave around him was dotted with small signatures, a much larger set further into the cave itself, Menma looked up and before him were the glowing eyes of the Lucent, dread set firmly into his stomach and he sighed, "_God fucking damnit Menma..._" The creature tittered at him, clicking its beak slightly as it nudged his head.

"Ugh...Don't eat me?" He asked, with a chuckle, the creature pinched his cheek with its beak, hard enough to draw blood and rip a gash of flesh, he hissed but it went dead still for a moment, and then proceeded to lick his wound until it stopped weeping blood.

"Very confused." He said dryly, the Lucent chittered at him once more, its eyes glowing brightly, the streaks of red running from around said organs to it ears shimmering brightly as well. The other heat signatures rousing at this, Menma wanted to ready himself but the Lucent turned from him and held him down with its tail, if he wanted out he'd have to throw the fucker, Gate 1, maybe 2 depending on how dense it was.

The Nargacuga released a bellow, the harder sections on its wings clapping together as it did so, the little signatures were up and at it immediately, followed by the larger one, somehow, and Menma would always question this until the day he died. The sun broke through the cave and illuminated what lay within.

The Lucent, obviously, big and coloured cobalt. Its feline/bat body shape honed to a killing perfection. Its tail was sleek but had a great many poisonous barbs dug into the flesh, ready to be deployed with a swing at a moment notice.

Before it were dozens of smaller Nargacuga, green or the usual black, both dotted the area. Roughly 30 or so, a couple of feet tall, not much else to say, they were the young.

Behind them stood what Menma assumed to be the mother, her coat was spotted with black and green, a crossbreed? Interesting, he'd never heard of such before. Or read about, which was probably the more correct term, the tail lifted and the Lucent turned to Menma, he stood up shakily, grabbing his head as a wave of nausea hit him.

Menma fell back to his knees as he heaved up spit, the sensation making his chest hurt like a motherfucker, "_God damnit Menma!_" Once more he cursed his own hastiness, like running into the jaws of a tiger.

"I'm good...I'm good." He said, brushing off the chitters of the Lucent, curious as they were. He stood up and took a deep breath to calm himself and steadied against the wall behind him, his switch-axe lay aside him, broken. "Son of a bitch...Years of work, ruined." He leant down to pick up the tattered remains of his creations, now when he said 'broken' it wasn't in a thousand pieces, but the gears and the folding parts were bent and warped, unfortunately this was a problem one would encounter when using a weapon with so many parts. He'd probably have to wait a good amount of time before he could get the money to make all those parts again. Shame really, he really looked forward to using it.

"So I'm guessing this is your family, there a reason you brought me down here? I was chasing you with a giant sword after all."

The Lucent merely chatted with its mate who rumbled quietly, the younglings sniffing at his feet, Menma crouched down to pat them, they were uncontrollably adorable, all fluffy and soft. Their scales hadn't come in completely yet to their wings felt like snake-skin instead of hard carapace like their father. Menma was knocked onto his ass by one of the children jumping on his head, the sudden weight unbalancing him. The little one nibbling at his hair.

"Riiiight..."

**Home**

"So they followed me." Said Menma, sitting outside, the Lucent and the Mother resting on the grass with their young, Riven was making sure his wound wasn't infected, though the disinfectant stung like a motherfucker it wasn't as bad as something eating a chunk of your face.

"You're ridiculous." Said Caitlyn with a dry look, "You chased after some enormous creature on the hunch it might have been like one in those old books? What would you have done if you caught up to it."

"Uh...Dunno." Admitted Menma, he was honestly just buzzing at the idea that he wasn't crazy. That all those years of looking over old books wasn't wasted.

Caitlyn just sighed and shook her head. Pantheon chuckled quietly to himself, this young man reminded him of himself when he was younger, blood running too hot to think of consequences.

One of the little ones was sniffing at Ahri's tails, only to bite it, making the fox turned demi-human cry out in pain. The champions, the beasts and the Shinobi all turned to the sight. Ahri trying to pry the little Nargacuga off her only to fail miserably.

"Oi, drop it!" Snapped Menma, the little Narga' let go immediately and padded over to his side, sitting down like a dog awaiting praise. He tapped its head, "Bad."

"They act like dogs." Deadpanned Riven, Ahri clutching her marvelous tails in her arms, little tears in her eyes, sticking her tongue out she went inside.

"I enjoy the presence of these creatures." Said Pantheon, patting one on the head.

"Kinda freaky." Said Vi, not bothering to engage with the creatures, instead fiddling with her gloves.

Menma ruffled his hair out and stretched, "Alright, I'm going to the Forge, I need to make a new weapon, Axe broke." The Shinobi said, making his way behind the house. Lucent saw its new...Friend? Meal? Who knows at this point, leaving and padded after him curiously.

Menma approached the board he'd set aside for schematic creation and pulled down the Switch-Axe schematics and sealed them onto the back, pulling up fresh paper he laid it all out before sat in his smithing chair aside the forge, a few embers flickering quietly in it.

Lucent sat at the mouth of the cave as his new friend stared at an empty board intensely, letting out a curious growl he gained the black haired males attention, "I'm trying to think of a new weapon to use that doesn't have so many breakable parts but can still utilize the new technological advantage of the Switch axe." Informed Menma, Lucent moved and sat aside him, staring at the board.

"I'm thinking a spear." Menma got up and drew up a basic lance-styled spear, with a flared end, "Or maybe I make it a halberd?" He thought, drawing another head with a axe-like section hanging down slightly off the spearhead, and adjusting the flare accordingly.

Lucent came up to the board and tapped the axe-blade with its beak, drawing Menma's attention, then slapped the ground twice with its tail, "Two axe heads..? What like this..?" He drew another head, with two axe-heads, a 45 degree angle between them.

Lucent rumbled an affirmative, "I'm just going to not question how you can both, understand me _and _seem to know enough about human weaponry to add ideas." Said Menma, Lucent did a little spin before laying down, now bored.

"If I have it like this, no one is going to be able to get off if I dig it in far enough, heh...None of that taking the strike to get the upper hand shit." Menma looked at the basic design and decided to be a little creative, an idea coming to him.

"If I put the phial in the head of the spear, have the metal of it melting a casing to keep it safe and in place, then add a few small vents around the edges here...I could manage to use the explosive phial and get an enormous advantage. Lucent you clever little thing." He murmured with a snicker.

Pantheon approached the smithy, spotting the design and raising a brow. "Is your current weapon unusable, Menma?" Asked the Rakkor man.

"Some of the gears got warped, probably a poor landing on my behalf, too many working parts I suppose." Said the Shinobi with a sigh, "I'll have to revisit it later, when I have better quality materials to work with."

"For what it's worth, the weapon was a grand idea." Said the man, Menma smiled at that, he'd never shown it to anyone but it was nice to receive praise for his hard work, "You intend to make a spear of some kind? A dual bladed halberd from the looks of it." He said, looking back to the board.

"Yeah, sleepy here thought two blades would work, and I'm inclined to agree. Besides if there's more monsters hiding like the Nargacuga it'd be good to know when I pierce their hide I won't be coming off." Informed Menma.

"Hmm, interesting indeed. I would offer to show you the way of the spear but it may be too grueling for one outside the tribe." Goaded the man, smirking. Menma shot him a look.

"Heh, that a challenge, Pantheon?"

"If you want it to be."

"Bring it on."

**Two Days Later**

Menma hadn't bothered to return home, his clone collecting some basic mission as an excuse to stay away. He didn't have a team, as he apprenticed to Might Gai though the man had been away on a high-ranking mission for a few weeks now he was due back within a couple of days. As such he was able to take a few low-rank missions himself, Gennin or no his father knew what he was capable of and left his leash long.

The forging of the spear, 'Bolg' had taken an entire day, but Luca, Lucent, had stuck by, observing the entire time, Pantheon occasionally dropping in to see how he was coming along, Riven to observe the smithing techniques of the Shinobi, Menma had offered to reforge her sword her only response was a rather dramatic.

'A sword mirrors its owner.'

She could have just left it at, 'no'.

Vi had quizzed him on various Monsters she wanted to know about, whilst asking if there was anywhere she could get specific parts to repair a few faults with her gloves, Menma offered to take her into the village smithy to fetch materials, as he could make the parts if she gave him specifications. Small stuff like cogs and coils, nothing particularly thrilling but he did enjoy striking the anvil.

Menma spun the spear between his fingers, it stood about his own height in length, the end decorated with a slim spike whilst the spear-head of the halberd sported spiraling teeth, the entire thing was dark grey, made of the material kunai were. Which was good enough for the moment, hardy as it was it wasn't about to win any contests.

"Now unfortunately for you, the manner of how I use some of my skills are only accessible to my people. And in a singular case, myself alone." Said Pantheon, wearing a simple black singlet and sweatpants, Menma suited up a similar matter.

"How's that?" Asked the shinobi.

"The power of my ancestors flows through me, empowering me into a perfect tool of war. Due to the circumstances of such, with each champion of my people that dies, the line grows stronger. I have molded my techniques around such, the Grand Skyfall is my signature move if you will. My body soaks up all the power it can, I leap high into the air and fall upon my enemies with devastating consequences. My range is limited only by my sight." Explained the Rakkor, a swelling of pride in his chest.

Menma whistled, "Damn son, that's pretty brutal." Pantheon nodded, a smirk on his lips, "Well, if I can't produce the same effect how about I just try to get the jump down? With my chakra I could get some decent height, the trees are good practice if nothing else. I could even channel something through my spear and use that as the focal point for the landing." Pantheon cradled his chin in thought, "Here, lemme see how far I can get without any practice and we'll go from there, eh?" The Spartan nodded, his new pupil, taking a breath to calm himself, a blue shroud grew over his legs as he leapt into the air, getting about half way up one of the forest trees, roughly 100 meters or so from where Pantheon stood, could be more or less he was just guessing after all.

Menma came back down his spear lit up like a star as it pierced the ground, due to his will Menma only required a soft landing so there was no grand explosion, Pantheon examined his dismount and his form afterwards.

"Your landed on with too much of a crouch, you need to minimize the amount of time you could give your enemy to gut you when dismounting the Jump, obviously without a live scenario there is only so much we can learn from this, but otherwise I see this to be a fine substitute." Menma smiled brightly and nodded. "But for now, we'll do some basic drills to get you used to the weapon, come, mimic what I do." Pantheon took a stance, Menma standing beside him and doing the same.

On the verandah sat Caitlyn, tea in hand and various snacks on a tray next to her, whilst she did so enjoy the sight of attractive men working out she wasn't about to forget just how imperative it was they found a way to return home, the only problem was that she had no earthly idea how to go about it. Would the Summoners retrieve them? She supposed that would make the most sense, convenient as it was that they weren't that far from their 'landing zone' at the moment.

It would probably just end up being the waiting game, as none of them, aside from Ahri's very specific talents, were particularly magically oriented, and even then nothing to do with portals of such magnitude. She'd asked Menma during dinner last night and apparently 'Space Time' Jutsu wasn't exactly easy to come by, the closest he'd heard of was his father's ability to teleport at great speeds but there were no portals involved.

Menma was a curiosity to her really, and it was not like she had met anyone else during their time here so he was really about all the new things she had to think on. He seemed like a recluse, but seemed to welcome company at the same time. Humans were naturally social creatures but there were specific few who just hated company, Menma seemed to give off that feeling, but it couldn't be more wrong apparently.

He'd gotten Pantheon of all people to spend time with him, training and laughing. And Riven, to smile on occasion, that sourpuss never bloody smiled back home. Perhaps the change of scenery was good for them all? Like a vacation.

Thinking about it like that did set her nerves at ease, the little fluffy green creature on her lap also help. They were rather cute. Even the mother had a rather lovely air about her, for a giant bat-cat-thing with a beak.

Good things, all up. She enjoyed it here.

**End.**

_**Raxychaz!**_


	4. Chapter 4

**A Day Later**

Menma had to finally get back home but not before he took the others in to town to get some things for the forest house, both Menma and Pantheon were sporting simple black t-shirts, whilst the Shinobi wore shorts and his sandals, a pouch on his hip holding his wallet and such. Pantheon wore a pair of trousers and kept his own sandals, on. Fun fact about the 'Skins' the summoners loved so much was that it created the 'skin' over whatever you wore at the time. Typically people wore simpler clothing during those times to avoid any dramas.

Vi wore her usual attire minus the armour, Caitlyn doing the same without the hat, apparently it was a real attention drawer, according to their chaperone. It amused her to think of the young man like that. Riven didn't bother changing at all and Ahri walked next to the Shinobi so he could feed chakra to the seal on her arm, hiding her tails and ears.

"So yeah, this is the market district. Ignore the looks." Said Menma, doing just that. He didn't venture out into the public eye much, seeing the Hokage's eldest would probably be quite the sight for those that didn't know him.

"Why _are _they looking at us so strangely?" Asked Ahri, curiously.

"I don't go out much." Menma answered amusedly, Ahri looked at him quizzically, "They're unused to seeing me in public, especially with strangers."

"We don't look that weird do we?" Asked Vi, looking herself over.

"Compared to the average villager, yeah. You do. But it doesn't matter until..." A familiar Jounin with gravity defying silver hair and a dark grey eye, the rest of his face covered by his headband and his facemask, Hatake Kakashi. The Copy Ninja. "We run into someone...Fuck. Hi Kakashi." The man looked up from whatever he was reading and smiled with his eye.

"Ah, Menma-kun. It's good to see you out in the village for a chance...Who are your friends, I haven't seen them around and their clothes..."

"I'll tell you away from the public eye, no doubt the old man had a bead on me the second I came into town, sneaky fuckers already watching us." Said Menma looking across the roofs around them, the ANBU were hidden, obviously. If they weren't they'd be fired and have their memories purged, two ways to leave ANBU get honorably discharged by the Hokage or Captain-Commander, or get fired. One way was a great deal more pleasant than the other, Kakashi had his memories, for example.

Kakashi got what Menma was saying, the civies didn't need to hear about this, so it was at least worth to keep secret, the silver haired man just nodded, "Just make sure you check in with your father at some point. He'll want to know." The younger shinobi nodded, leading his party away. "Oh and Menma..." the teen turned on his heel and looked over his shoulder, "Try to keep the Genjutsu chakra to a minimum. It's a little obvious at the moment."

The teen led them away, calming the flow of chakra to the seal it was a little hard to commit such a meager amount when he was already barely pushing any into it.

"You know that guy?" Asked Vi.

"No I just talk to strangers suspiciously as a passtime." Shot back Menma without missing a beat.

"Har har smartass, you know what I mean." She groaned in return.

"His name is Kakashi Hatake, he was my father's student, so kidna like a distant older brother to me, but he's got some pretty bad survivors guilt so if anyone ever mentions the names 'Obito' or 'Rin' don't say anything. Save yourself the trouble." Informed Menma as they entered the clothing store, "'Kay, go nuts pick whatever."

Shopping isn't exactly fun to watch, so let's see what other people are doing.

**Hokage Tower**

Minato Uzumaki idly glanced at the crystal ball on his desk occasionally, looking over his eldest as he spent time with these foreigners, he'd seen the interaction between Kakashi and his son and patiently awaited an explanation, usually if strangers entered the village without their knowledge he would have ANBU capture them and interrogate them. But he trusted his sons judgment on this, call it nepotism but he was the Hokage, military leader and head honcho of Konoha, fuck your for questioning his choices.

Minato was a youthful looking man in his early thirties a head of spiky blonde hair and ocean blue eyes with a slight almond shape to them, something only Natsuki inherited, full blooded Uzumaki and their strong genes. He sported a white coat over his rather standard Jounin attire, the Hokage hat on his head as he signed a few documents and other such business. Nothing of great interest was happening at the moment.

"Hokage-sama!" A squad of ANBU appeared before him, Minato put down the papers and gestured them on, "Squad 3 reporting in, we've found something that may interest you sir." One wearing a bear mask presented a wrapped cloth, Minato unwrapped it and was given sight to a shimmering azure scale, about the size of his head, he'd never seen something like this before.

"What exactly am I looking at her, Bear?" Asked the Hokage, scanning the scale critically.

"It, and a burnt down building was all that remained when we went to investigate the suspect activity in Mizu no Kuni, Hokage-sama. Deep gashes in the ground and body parts were the only other evidence, forgive me for saying sir, but we believe it may belong to...A dragon, of some kind." The way Bear said this, Minato was under the impression these were not exactly his thoughts but the thoughts of his squad.

"A dragon, you say." Murmured the Yellow Flash, skeptical to say the least. To be quite frank, if the scale wasn't here as evidence he'd never even humour the idea. Stranger things had happened, for all he knew there could be a dragon contract for summoners, he road giant toads into battle sometimes so stranger things had happened.

"Write up a full report, lodge it to the Captain Commander." Said Minato the group nodded and left immediately, Minato turned the scale over a few more times before wrapping it back up he'd take it home with him, maybe it'd reveal some hidden secret to him.

He placed it to the side for now, returning to his paperwork, only for the intercom to sound, "_Hokage-sama, your son is here to see you._" NNNNNNNEPOTISM!

"Thank you, Haruka-chan. Let him through." Answered the man, tossing the papers aside and leaning back into his chair, Menma walked in, accompanied by a collection of others, a woman with pink hair, one with white hair, a pair of brunettes and an imposing man with bright red eyes.

"Sup?" Asked the young man, taking a seat and lounging into a chair.

"Care to introduce your new friends?" Asked Minato, amused.

"Vi, Caitlyn, Ahri, Riven and Pantheon. This is my father, Minato, Hokage-sama when anyone else is around. Dad, these are a bunch of people from another dimension who were dumped into the Forest of Death outside my house when I was training, big portal, very loud." Explained Menma, blank faced when he explained.

"Would it kill you to emote?" Asked Minato with a sigh, pulling off his hat. And laying it down, "Take a seat, pull of the Genjutsu and we'll talk." Menma did so, Ahri's tails and ears popped out without the chakra to sustain the illusion.

"A pleasure to meet you, your son in a strong warrior." Said Pantheon offering a hand, Minato took it and smiled lightly.

"Nice to see that one track mind of yours is back, Panth." Goaded Vi with a grin, the Rakkor rolled his eyes but made no comment, "Nice ta meetcha." Minato wasn't aware he'd ever meet a woman with a firmer handshake than Tsunade but it appeared that day came.

"And you." He winced out, pfft. Girl.

"A pleasure, Hokage...Sama." Amended Riven, her and Caitlyn greeting the man together before taking their seat.

Minato's eyes sharpened when he looked at Ahri though, "Uh...Hello." She greeted with a smile, Minato smirked lightly.

"She's flirty, not dangerous. Different creature, same features." Said Menma idly, snatching the cloth from the desk and looking at the scale within, his eyes widening for a moment, Minato saw this but didn't comment as he son reverently looked it over.

"I could tell just by looking at you, Ahri-san. You and the Kyuubi have some similarities but it'd take a great deal to convince me you are the same creature, especially when I know where it is." Minato said with an amused smirk, Ahri's tails fluffed up as she buzzed happily sitting down contently.

"So, lay it on me kiddo."

**Later**

Menma finished and readjusted himself in his seat, he'd left out the Nargacuga and his forge but everything was free information as far as he was concerned. The Hokage digested this for a moment sitting in silence as the 'Champions' looked at him expectantly.

"To be quite honest a great deal of this is outside my realm of understanding, my knowledge of time-space techniques isn't as great as I'd like. I'm very sorry, but there's nothing I can do to help you return home." The reactions varied, Caitlyn and Vi cursed, Riven and Pantheon were stung but took it much better, Ahri was quite careless about it all, as long as she could derive essence from people to sustain herself she'd be happy anywhere. Sure she'd miss the friends she made at the League but it wasn't like she was overly close to anyone.

Menma hummed to himself as he looked over the scale, "Azure Rathalos, from the slight scarring it seems this was dislodged by force, meaning its young. Inexperienced." Murmured the teen.

"Care to explain, Menma?" Asked Minato.

"Books I found in an old forge behind my house in 44, I neglected to inform you of them as it didn't seem relevant. But you've got a scale from a Rathalos here, Azure a sub-species, large wyvers that spew gouts of flame as easy as breathing, armour hard as stone and poisonous claws. Permission to investigate?" Asked Menma, smirking.

"Permission denied, explain Menma. All of it." Ordered Minato, frowning.

Menma sighed before digging into his pouch and producing a scroll, rolling it out he unsealed a handful of books, 'Monster Hunting Volumes 1-5'. "These are what I found, alongside some other stuff relating purely to the forge itself, these involve the dozens of creatures that once ran rampant across the planet. Here..." Menma opened one of the books and flipped through the pages, "Azure Rathalos, see."

Minato look on the page taking the scale in hand to see if it measured up, according to the this was a scale from the head, the black ridges on the edges and the shield shape. "And if I did send you out, what would you do?"

"Hunt and kill it most likely. It tore up something up I assume? I can't see any other reason you would have this if there wasn't some kind of conflict." Surmised the younger of the two, Minato almost cursed his sons intuition, usually one wouldn't assume it to be that big of a leap, but you'd be surprised with some of the youngsters nowadays. Without a war to drive them on they had little incentive to _really _give it their all during training. Aside from the few clan children that graduated recently.

Itachi and Menma were about it. The rest were oddly around Naruto and Mito's age, it was like everyone of the clan heads decided to pop one out in the same year for the hell of it.

"Hoooooooooookage-samaaaaa!" Came a booming voice, all of a sudden a man in a green skintight jumpsuit with orange leg warmers and a jounin flak-jacket, his Konoha headband around his waist like a belt. He also had supremely pronounce eyebrows. "Might Gai reporting back! Ah, my youthful student, Menma-kun, have you been training!?" Asked the booming voiced man, Menma stood up to greet him but was taken into a manly hug of manliness.

"Yes Gai-sensei. I also have great news, we have a new mission! With brand new teammates!" Said Menma, Gai pulled him to arms length and gasped.

"Such amazing news my youthful apprentice! What does this youthful mission entail?"

"Killing a dragon." Gai's coal black eyes widened before a massive grin grew on his face, with all the youth in the universe he performed the 'Platinum Good Guy Pose' thunder striking behind him and the very secrets of space and time exploding in a nebula of energy.

"Yosh! I will meet you at the eastern gate and we shall endeavor to defeat this mighty beast!" With a flicker of movement Gai was gone.

"What...Just happened?" Asked Riven, slightly worried.

"I told you I was trained by a crazy man." Said Menma, smirking, "He's a good man though, heart of gold. So don't worry about anything." Menma turned back to the desk and smirked at his sighing father.

"One day I swear I'll get you under control, here's where the ANBU squad were sent, if you don't find it in a few days get your asses back here." Menma caught the paper and tucked it into his pouch, collecting up his books he left the beginners guide for Minato.

"Read it, if you don't just keep it safe. I'll have to flay someone if its damaged." Said Menma leaving the room, "C'mon guys I'll fill you in on that clusterfuck on the way home." All of them took his offered hand and felt a sudden vertigo, then they were back at the house.

All of them minus the stoic Pantheon fell on their asses, who went into the house Menma dumped all the shopping bags onto the couch and went into his room almost immediately leaving it as the door closed, his fur collared coat over his shoulders, black singlet on, ANBU styled trousers and black sandals, his legs lined with kunai, a roll of explosive notes and wire tucked into his pouch, along with various supplementary pills. He sported a pair of silver knuckled black gloves and carried his spear resting against his shoulder, walking outside Menma whistled sharply.

A loud crashing came through the thicket at Luca and a few of his children came bounding out, "Luca, I have a favour to ask you." The big Lucent rumbled curiously, "Would it be out of the question if I were to ride you into battle against a Rathalos?" Menma asked with a slight chuckle, the idea had come to him when he was getting dressed and he was so into it now he had to know.

Luca snorted out a puff of air before walking behind Menma and sliding his head between the Shinobi's legs, sitting him on his neck, Menma used his Chakra to grip onto the Nargacuga, Luca chose this moment to bullet into the sky, the only sound that came from Menma was a sharp curse before they were out of sight.

"Hope he spits up his guts, asshole coulda warned us." Grumbled Vi, walking inside to lounge on the couch. Ahri helped Riven up who in turn helped up a dazed Caitlyn.

**10 Or So Minutes Later**

Menma and Luca had done a full go around the forest before they found themselves back at the house, Menma slid off the Nargacuga's neck and steadied himself against the creature, "Ok, two things." Luca yawned slightly, shaking his head, the flapping of his ears against his scalp making quite the amusing noise. "Firstly, I meant with a saddle, because right now, I think I'm sterile." Luca tilted his head at this, "And two, that was amazing, please lets be best friends forever." The creature licked his scarred cheek.

"Right, cool. C'mon it shouldn't take long to whip something up for the moment." Menma sealed his spear and jogged into The Forge, a bunch of leather scraps would do for the moment, a few rivets to keep it all together, badabing-badaboom.

A clone walked into the house, "Just to preface, I only need Cait and Pantheon to come. The rest of you would just end up running about to avoid getting hit, the book says Rathalos are complete fuckers and get in the air a shit-ton. Cait can fill its wings with holes, Pantheon can jump after it."

"So what, we're just supposed to sit around and twiddle our thumbs?" Asked Vi with a scowl.

"No, I'd appreciate it if you guys could look after the Nargacuga. I'll be leaving a clone so if you need to go into town or anything I'll be able to show you where to go. I'm not ditching you so much as I am keeping the group small enough to avoid people getting in each other's way."

"Whatever." Came the petulant reply from the Enforcer.

"Oh good, I was hoping to sleep in anyway." Admitted the Fox, Riven shook her head.

"Have you bothered to ask if either of them _want _to go?" Asked the Exile.

"I'm making an assumption on Pantheon, but I'm asking Caitlyn as a personal favour, having you there would make it all a great deal easier." Said the clone looking at the Sheriff.

"I don't see why not, I need to shoot something anyway the news from your father didn't exactly put me in the best of moods." Menma nodded, understandable.

Pantheon came out, sporting his armour with a sleeping bag under one arm, his shield hitched onto his back. "I'm ready." Said the man.

"Cool your jets, turbo. I've still got to pack food first." Menma pulled out a scroll from one of the drawers in the kitchen, "'Kay, ready. Gimmie your baggage I'll seal it up, much better than carrying the stuff normie style."

"I HAVE CREATED MAJESTY!" Riven looked out the window to see Menma on Luca's back, riding a saddle, "Ladies." He greeted with a smirk, spear raised, Luca looking rather pleased with himself as well.

"He's so strange." Muttered the exile.

Indeed. He was.

**End.**

_**Raxychaz!**_


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